🏜️Cowboy Courier 6 Build, Outfits, Weapons, & Role Play (WIP)

A guide to acquiring all the best cowboy gear and perks as soon as possible so the majority of the game can be experienced as the desired wasteland gunslinger role. The skill point benchmarks needed at each level are listed in detail. This build relies heavily upon purchasing the expensive implants from the New Vegas Medical Clinic and completing the Old World Blues DLC early on. Along with some inspiration for role playing you'll find guidance for mostly "good" quest choices for House, Wild Card, or NCR endings.

"And the Ranger's aim was deadly / With the big iron on his hip"
Marty Robbins, Big Iron, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, 1959

Build Overview and Role Play

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Courier
Reading this article can provide some reminders about our character's past and their place in the Mojave.
🏕️🏜️🏝️

This Mad scientist quack, chem addict Courier came away from a bullet to the head with just brain damage due to dumb luck and high endurance. Their once gifted mind is now acting out a wild west revenge story. Cybernetics will be needed to climb back in the saddle. A Consummate consumer with a mentats addiction who spent their youth glued to cowboy holotapes in Hopeville. Becomes a smooth talking scoundrel that counts cards. Wears mirror shades to hide the white noise static eyes. Looks like somebody you'd see in an issue of Heavy Metal or in a cantina on Tattooine.

Skill Calculator: http://www.rpg-gaming.com/fnv.html
Useful tool for planning skill points for perk choices.

Traits: Built to Destroy and Logan's Loophole.
Start Old World Blues around level 20 to use the Auto-Doc in the Sink to change Logan's Loophole to Fast Shot (to make up for slow firing cowboy weapons) before hitting the level 30 cap. Perks and companions will reduce downsides to these traits.

Incidental Housing for a nomadic courier. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_player_character_housing
Harper's shack has all crafting stations and Prospector Den isn't too far from the Mojave Outpost which has Major Knight for max repair. BOS safehouse has Paladin Sato for max repair and is close to Raul's Shack if you betray them. I send all of my companions to The Lucky 38 for convenience except ED-E since it is always emitting annoying sounds without mods.

SPECIAL

The top priority implants are Intelligence and Perception.
S: 5
P: 5 +1
E: 9
C: 2
I: 4 +1
A: 8
L: 7 +2

No perk choices will be wasted on Intense Training.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_implants

Strength - 5
+ implant = 6 for the Medicine Stick. Take a point from charisma if you want a little more variety than just your main cowboy weapons. The Reinforced Spine perk (+2) isn't added to base STR so when leveling up it won't count toward qualifying for perks.

Perception - 5
Better Criticals requires 6 at level 16, and Sniper at level 12

Endurance - 9
Required for all implants. Since this is a light armor build the big health pool helps a lot.

Charisma - 2
The Speech and Barter stats will take a hit with this choice. Using magazines with the Comprehension perk and stat boosting clothing will help achieve the good quest outcomes.
There are two Charisma-based perks both requiring at least 6. Animal Friend is not very useful and doesn't fit the role of a wasteland survivalist hunter. Ferocious Loyalty grants 50% Damage Resistance to any active companions whenever the player's health drops below 50%. It would be useful if it was when THEIR health was below 50% on hardcore.
Each companion has a special attribute referred to in the game as Nerve. Nerve boosts the damage and Damage Threshold of each companion by 5% for each point of Charisma a character has. So Nerve grants a total bonus of +50% damage and damage threshold to companions with 10 Charisma and only +5% to both at 1 Charisma.
Boost companion's nerve with the Empathy Synthesizer implant, Party Time Mentats (+5), high Survival (so that alcohol adds +3 Charisma), or stacking moonshine with another type of alcohol. The Bounty Hunter Duster offers +1.

Intelligence - 4
Enough INT for the Educated and Comprehension perks to get the good endings of quests, and to level up quicker in the early game. On hardcore mode the Pack Rat perk (Level 8, Intelligence 5, Barter 70) is a must for a Hand Loader gunslinger so we have to get the implant ASAP to repair what Doc Mitchell couldn't. We will make up for our brain damage with Mentats plus Mobius' Glasses and Scrubs.
In the base game, Mentats are rarer than other drugs, but can be found on most doctors in the game. Effects from Party Time Mentats stack with regular Mentats. Chems and clothing/gear will not affect the number of skill points you receive so spend them wisely.
https://youtu.be/v7_l4AAwGoQ

Agility - 8
Implant + House Courier Duster = 10.
Use the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System to fulfill your T.J. Lazer fantasies. The player character receives only 75% of normal damage in V.A.T.S, but sometimes spamming your hotkeyed stimpaks while waiting for VATS to end will be vital. The V.A.T.S. critical chance bonus is 5%. Some of the wiki information on its effects seems unclear and/or conflicting between the old vault wiki and it's new fandom conversion.

Luck - 7
Take the implant to increase it to 8. Complete the Lonesome Road DLC to receive a permanent boost to one of your SPECIAL stats, use this to increase it to 9. Wearing the Lucky Shades will provide a +1 boost to Luck to increase it to 10.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Critical_Chance#Fallout:_New_Vegas

🎲Gambling / Casino Heists / Caps🎰

🃏 ♤ ♧ ♡ ♢ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
We're going to need a lot of Mojave currency to get all the aforementioned purchases.

Using these dropboxes can help you with selling off extra loot.
https://youtu.be/djm3QKg866k?si=Z96SwMz7sP0LSqog

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_merchants
Merchants with the most caps:
https://youtu.be/paRuGun659A?si=ge143jtvZvNy0OJX
https://youtu.be/1hVIJadeKYM?si=mLeiF_8Bq02kajZ6

Caravan
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Caravan_(game)#Caravan_players
https://www.reddit.com/r/fnv/comments/vhxax0/the_ultimate_caravan_guide/ This guy's method is pretty reliable in my experience. Keep an eye out for 10s, 6s and Kings in merchants' inventories.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Keith's_Caravan_Charade This quest gives some free cards.

https://youtu.be/V_LiLceRCx8

https://youtu.be/J07ds8xgxi4

https://youtu.be/8JtrV87phks

Heist Guides
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPkGGMsDzCC7QvGwoQfrmDU0RfkBua3xK&si=Zgyy0xVmdNbo6Igj

📚Skills

find all lying congressional style asap. speech is priority for roleplay of good endings https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_skill_books

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_skill_magazines#Fixed_locations

Cowboy Perk Req: Level 8, Guns: 45, Melee Weapons: 45

Barter
Even though this is mostly a dump stat, the Pack Rat perk requires 50. With this level most of the dialogue checks can be passed with consumables and gear.

Speech
Brooks tumbleweed ranch On an open locker shelf, in the upstairs room with the chessboard
Cerulean Robotics On the floor among the office desks
Lucky Jim Mine Inside the Lucky Jim Mine house, on the bottom shelf below a varmint rifle
NCR Correctional Facility Second floor of the NCR CF administration, on a desk
The Tampico Dead Money On a shelf, opposite the holotape projector
Third Street Municipal Building Lonesome Road (add-on In the eastern most corner underneath a physician's desk (may have fallen off building after detonating warhead)

Perks

https://www.reddit.com/r/fnv/comments/nskrdq/fallout_nv_perk_tier_list_complete_and_revised/
Some worthwhile advise to take in consideration.
"-Comprehension: In theory this perk grants more skill points than any other perk in the game (104) but it is such a chore that I can't recommend doing this, if you just want more skill points take educated. That being said, where this perk really shines is magazines. Boosting skill magazines to +20 from +10 allows you to save tons of skill points for needed dialogue, lockpicking and science checks. This also boosts True Police Stories from +5% to +10% crit chance making this perk a good choice for crit builds."
-Educated: This perk is a little bit of a noob trap but its still not a bad choice compared to your other options at this level. Useful if you want your character to be a master of everything.

-Travel Light: Being able to move around the wasteland faster is a nice for quality of life plus it makes you more efficient at kiting out melee enemies. Combine this perk with Run n Gun and you've got yourself a slippery gunslinger.

-Run n Gun: This perk is nice in pistol builds since pistols get to move around at full speed when drawn unlike rifles making them great for kiting melee enemies. Combine this with Travel Light for even better kiting.

-Atomic!: Atomic is quite the strange perk. While irradiated you regenerate AP faster up to a 50% boost at the 800-900 AP range which is quite good for a VATS build. Another benefit of this perk is that while you are gaining rads, you move faster, attack faster, gain 2 DT and 2 STR, but given how rare irradiated zones are in FNV you won't be utilizing this portion of the perk very often. THAT BEING SAID, you can manually trigger this perk by consuming coyote meat since it will irradiate the player for 3-9 seconds per steak. Combine this with Logans Loophole and Chemist and you turn ♥♥♥♥♥♥ critter meat into a powerful supplement.

Level 2
Some inspiration from Fudgemuppet https://youtu.be/qo4jCk6oq8k

Jury Rigging before owb so you can repair your armor with lobotomite jumpsuits

Perk Name	Level Requirement	SPECIAL & Skill Requirements	Description
Rapid Reload	2	Agility 5, Guns: 30	Makes all your weapon reloads 25% faster

https://www.reddit.com/r/fnv/comments/86fnfv/best_level_50_perk/ To me the best option is Just Lucky I'm Alive for crit damage, but if maintaining neutral karma is too annoying then just go with Thought You Died.

🤠Armor and Hats

Hats
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Cowboy_hat_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)

The Sheriff Hat and Duster can be obtained in Primm, inside the Sheriff's office to hold you over until getting the better one. The duster will disappear after "My Kind of Town."

Grab an NCR disguise to ride monorail to The Strip asap. You can loot one of the corpses in the Nipton Hotel, West of the town hall, or just buy one off of Contreras at McCarren.
https://youtu.be/ON0s08BOmS0

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Debt_Collector
With access to the strip this quest can be completed to earn you the Bounty Hunter Duster and an Owned Bed in Freeside. Along with the Bounty hunter duster, Dr Mobius' scrubs have the highest DT of any clothing in the game.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Ranger_hat_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)#Ranger_grey_hat
Ranger Grey Hat and Authority Glasses in Camp Searchlight NCR Storage
Reinforced Leather armor from the prospector.

😎Get Lucky Shades from Legion's Safehouse without aiding them.
https://youtu.be/5Qvou72B1YQ
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/18opyv/my_guide_for_getting_the_legions_safehouse/

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_stat-raising_items
Make up for low stats early on. Buy the Naughty Nightwear from Mick & Ralp's asap.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Pimp-Boy_3_Billion
Do this quest first
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Bye_Bye_Love
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/How_Little_We_Know
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=167601018
It is possible to do this quest the "good" way (supporting Cachino) and still obtain the Pimp-Boy 3 Billion. The Courier needs to get Troike out of his contract by not picking up the blackmail note in Big Sal's office safe, instead convincing Sal to let Troike go and talking to Sal about the guns from Mick and Ralph's before killing Sal at the end of the quest. Alternatively, if the Courier uses the blackmail note to get Troike to let them blow up the guns, the Courier will not be able to get the alternate Pip-Boy. After testing I was still able to get it after sending Troike to die by talking to ralph before the finishing quest.
Let them all kill each other since they are all scum https://www.reddit.com/r/fnv/comments/5z8bd4/how_little_we_know_is_misleading/

Daniel's Hat, given to the player after completing the Honest Hearts DLC, provides an increase of +5 to Speech and +1 to Perception. It's the best looking hat with the courier dusters, and no one else in the main map will be wearing it.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Gecko-backed_leather_armor,_reinforced
Survival 90

🎯Big Irons

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Cowboy_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)
This article lists all weapons affected by this perk.

Put off finishing Cass' side "Heartache by the Number" quest to keep Silver Rush available to trade with.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_weapon_mods

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Hand_Loader

Save up long fuse dynamite for the Crackerjack Timing three-star (★★★) challenge (Kill ten Mojave Wasteland Cazadors with Tin Grenades, Long Fuse Dynamite, and Time Bombs.)

Chance's Knife
Be wary of cazadores when grabbing this crit damage combat knife knife near Goodsprings cemetery. A shovel can be found during the tutorial given by Sunny Smiles, next to the second water valve from the town, or you can just buy one at the general store. https://youtu.be/cdHQWSb3vfA

Ditch your Varmint Rifle for That Gun (Guns 50), a unique 5.56mm pistol (1500 caps). https://youtu.be/Rbj-r9CfG5Q
It's generic counterpart can be used as a holdout weapon sold by the Arms merchant at 188 Trading Post and Vendortron at Gun Runners. Benefit Or a Hazard one-star (★) kill 15 robots with 5.56mm pistols or That Gun. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/5.56mm_round_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)

Lucky, a unique .357 Magnum revolver (Lockpick 75) https://youtu.be/3-MugOcSJg0
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/.357_Magnum_round
Obtain La Longue Carabine, a unique Scoped Cowboy Repeater, without killing Corporal Sterling. Since it uses the same ammo type as Lucky use alt ammo. https://youtu.be/rR2s-xWNnyQ

Mysterious Magnum (Guns 50), unique .44 that can be a holdout weapon with a sneak kill of 50. (Barter 50) Use this complete the "White Line Nightmare" two-star (★★) challenge. (kill 20 Fiends, Vipers, or Jackals with tire irons, baseball bats, lead pipes, machetes, .44 Magnum revolvers, and/or sawed-off shotguns.) https://youtu.be/-rMUsNO7axY
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/.44_Magnum_round_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)
Trail Carbine uses .44 as well. There is no unique variant but a scope can purchased at Gun Runners or 188.

Hunting revolver (GRA) Guns 75 .45-70 Gov't same as Medicine Stick, match barrel - decreases the weapon's spread by .15, 6-shot cylinder - increases the gun's capacity by 1.
The rare, superior counterpart, the Ranger Sequoia, can be reverse-pickpocketed from NCR Veteran Rangers beginning at level 16 or Chief Hanlon at Camp Golf.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/.45-70_Gov%27t
Buy Medicine Stick (STR 6, Guns 100), a unique .45-70 Gov't Brush Gun for 20,000 caps https://youtu.be/XMmtUZtQbKo

There is no unique repeating shotgun, and there are no weapon mods for it. Big Boomer, Paciencia, and Dinner Bell aren't included either unfortunately. Ne Ne Ne Ne... is a one-star (★) challenge cripple five right arms with any shotgun. Get it without killing Old Lady Gibson: https://youtu.be/lDSPBlvXhH4
For Lever Action https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/20_gauge_shotgun_shell
For other shotguns https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/12_gauge_shotgun_shell_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)

The three-star (★★★) challenge "Against All Tyrants" (Kill ten named Legion members with Hunting Revolvers, Ranger Sequoias, Brush Guns, Service Rifles, Hunting Rifles, or Cowboy Repeaters.)

All Caedo Genesis' guides
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLPYDizvwv8e79ILzNqQoaess50QfJ_gW

BaronofCaring's Gun Guides
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHMXqUUSlliIB--cJRY5uBl_8x3L8MDdv&si=TRsQw5nK-vD23V_O

Reloading benches can be found in almost all relatively large settlements. They can also be found around small encampments and outside stores:

At the 188 Trading Post, next to Samuel Kerr's shack.
Inside the Brotherhood of Steel safehouse.
At Goodsprings, next to the general store, along with a workbench.
In Freeside, inside Cerulean Robotics.
Next to the Gun Runners stall in Freeside, near the Vendortron.
Three are located in the Gun Runners' factory as well. It is advised you have high Sneak and/or Stealth Boys before entering, as it is considered trespassing.
Inside Harper's shack to the left of the door.
At Jacobstown, inside the lodge, upstairs inside the first room to the left of the righthand hallway.
Inside the NCR Ranger safehouse, just in the kitchen next to a shelf of NCR armor.
At Nellis Air Force Base inside the hangars.
Inside the Nevada Highway Patrol station.
At Nipton, in the house just east of the town hall.
At North Vegas Square, inside The Gray.
At Novac, inside the gas station.
At Primm, inside the sheriff's office.
Inside The Prospector's Den, at the very back near the Sunset Sarsaparilla vending machine.
In the basement of the REPCONN test site, in the room with Davison.
At Ranger Station Foxtrot, behind the crates near the comms tent.
In the abandoned shack just north of the Yangtze Memorial.

💉Chems / Booze / Consumables🌵

☕🍵🍶🍺🍻🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🍾
-Chemist: This perk doubles the duration of all positive consumables so you get double duration on stealth boys, stimpaks in survival, magazines and food as well as chems. Chemist also stacks with Logans Loophole for 4x duration on all your buffs. Fantastic perk for any build.
💊
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/959557-fallout-new-vegas/59824435

The Turbo recipe can be acquired from Diane as a reward for completing the first leg of the Aba Daba Honeymoon quest.
Should the player fail the quest or the quest become unavailable, the recipe can still be obtained as long as 1) Anders can still be rescued and 2) the Oh My Papa quest can still be started.

Campfire or Electric hot plate
Science: 50
Broc flower (1)
Cazador poison gland (1)
Jet (1)
Turpentine (1)

Turbo Dealers
Gomorrah - Can be purchased from the bartenders.
Red Rock drug lab - Sold by Jack.
Novac - Sold by Doctor Ada Straus.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fast_Times

-Implant GRX: Turbo is OP enough, but FREE turbo is even better. You get this perk just as you reach the level cap for Logan's Loophole but won't be able to take the second rank, which is OK because Logans Loophole buffs GRX to make up for your loss.

-Whisky Rose: Immunity to alcohol related debuffs and DT from very specific types of alcohol. The DT does scale with your survival skill and you can stack both whisky and wasteland tequila for a 15 DT defense bonus.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Wasteland_tequila

Desert Survivalist

Give radscorpion poison glands to Ruby Nash in Primm, and she will make each into a casserole that gives you 30 HP.

After completing The Screams of Brahmin quest in Novac the refrigerator in the McBride house replenishes 10 free steaks.

At Camp McCarren, there's a guy in the kitchen who wants his food thingy repaired. Repair with with a high repair skill or the parts needed. Once you've done that, wait 3 days and buy all the food he'll have on him

Materials: Requirements: Produces:
Cram (1)
InstaMash (1)
Lunchbox (1)
Pork n' Beans (1)
Range
Campfire or electric hot plate
Survival: 30
Level
Caravan lunch (1)

When Dr. Luria is at the Followers of the Apocalypse safehouse with you, the refrigerators will have an endless supply of random food and drinks. Usually 3 items per fridge EVERY time you open them. So, take all the items, close the door, open it again and there is more food and drinks.
Crafting
This item must be crafted by the Courier. It is not sold by merchants or found anywhere in the wasteland.

The food supplier at the gourmad in the ultra luxe regularly stocks wasteland omeletes and ingredients for desert salads.
Creation requirements

Materials: Requirements: Produces:
Brahmin steak (1)
Barrel cactus fruit (1)
Pinyon nuts (1)
Range
Campfire or electric hot plate
Survival: 55
Level
Desert Salad (1)
100 +21 Hit Point for 15s -120 Dehydration , -240 Starvation

Crafting
This item can be crafted by the Courier, after Jas Wilkins in Sloan reveals her aunt Rose's recipe in the unmarked quest You Gotta Break Out a Few Eggs.

Creation requirements

Materials: Requirements: Produces:
BlamCo Mac & Cheese (1)
Crunchy mutfruit (1)
Deathclaw egg (1)
Lakelurk meat (1)
Range
Campfire or electric hot plate
Survival: 65
Recipes - Rose's wasteland omelet
Level
Wasteland omelet (1)
Locations
Ultra-Luxe - Sold at The Gourmand.
100 +12 Hit Point for 60s -450 Starvation
The wasteland omelet has the highest amount of health recovery in the base game as a health item, restoring 12 HP per second for an entire minute with 100 Survival skill, restoring 720 HP total.

TV dinners
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_consumables
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Old_World_Gourmet

Old World Blues DLC

Old World Blues (suggested Level 15+)
Spare scientists with a lot of skill checks If the Courier has completed all four of the side quests they can tell Klein to confer with his colleagues and the others support the view of the Courier, which allows them to reason with the Think Tank without the high skill checks. Save all atomic cocktails you find for this DLC. Thankfully Lucky and a Trail Carbine will have plenty of ammo provided by lobotomites.

Mentats are common in Big MT in the Forbidden Zone. 44 can be found in Dr. Mobius' room in house #102.
+2 Intelligence
+2 Perception
+1 Charisma for 4 minutes

Lockpick 50 https://youtu.be/aLSZJ2EJFw8?si=ngcG0OfdCoi9go0x
Dr. Mobius' glasses
Explosives +10
Intelligence +2
Perception +2 (Four Eyes trait only)
Dr. Mobius' scrubs
Charisma +1
Science +15
Intelligence +2

If reasoning with Dr. Mobius is chosen, he will direct the Courier to their brain where they must convince it to return. Optional speech checks are available with him:
Repair 75
Science 50
Speech 65
Intelligence 7 (x2)
Perception 7, Medicine 65, Guns 75 (do all 3, repeat conversation line)
Intelligence 7.

Choosing to replace their original heart results in replacing the Heartless perk with the Cardiac Arrest perk (healing chems are 50% more effective)
Choosing to replace their original spine results in replacing the Spineless perk with the Reinforced Spine perk (STR and DT bonuses doubled (+2))

For those wishing to reason, the speech checks are:
Speech 75
Medicine 85 or Science 100.
If the Courier has completed all four of the side quests they can tell Klein to confer with his colleagues and the others support the view of the Courier, which allows them to reason with the Think Tank without the high skill checks.

What's in a Name? (Speech 65, INT 9)

On the Same Wavelength (Perception 7)

A Brain's Best Friend
Initiate dialogue with Dr. Borous. Following all speech paths, Dr. Borous will mention his pet dog, Gabe, and the experiments inflicted upon Gabe. After this talk with the doctor, head over to Higgs Village, which is in the south of Big MT. When the Courier first enters, the objective is the house to the left on the far corner; House #103. Behind the house is a doghouse with the letters "GABE" spelled out below it on a mat. Gabe's bowl is also on the mat, which the Courier must take.

Coming Out of Her Shell
To access the quest, the player needs to pass a Perception check of 8, use the Lady Killer/Cherchez La Femme Speech option, or bring Dr. Dala a teddy bear. Several teddy bears can be found in Dr. Dala's room in the Think Tank (the second door on the left upstairs), as well as her house (House #104) in Higgs Village. Selecting all three of the biological actions in any order will complete this portion of the quest and will suitably satisfy the doctor.

Lonesome Road DLC

Lonesome Road (Suggested level 25+, Speech 90)
https://www.reddit.com/r/fnv/comments/clf7ld/tips_for_starting_lonesome_road/
This DLC is meant to be played last considering all the others' stories are leading up to this confrontation, but the loot is the most fitting gear for this play through so getting it all as soon as you can is a priority.

Faction Neutral Ranger Armor Early Game
https://youtu.be/_A9KLhogEuU

Elite Ranger Armor Location
https://youtu.be/DPP_CwsknvU?feature=shared

Courier Duster Variants Based on Faction Rep.
It's the best armor for the Light Touch & Travel Light Perks. Go for the Yes Man variant ("Blackjack" Spade / 21 +1 Luck, +30% Poison Resistance) or the Mr. House version ("Old World Justice" Old world flag identical to Ulysses' duster +1 Agility, + 30% Radiation Resistance.) Ulysses' duster offers Charisma +1, Critical Chance +5%.
https://youtu.be/mFtqtkmCWp4

Unique Bowie Knife Location
https://youtu.be/PxVdFahQQGI

Vanilla bedroll perfect for Home on the Range and Roughin' It perks https://youtu.be/DLBvUjxCIwE

Completionist Guide that is not urgent since one can return to the divide at any time. https://youtu.be/40sN3Mi3ctY

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Divide_Survivor

Companions' Quests & Loadouts

With a build this specialized a lot of great gear can be spared for followers. Also triggering their side quests can be messed up so read on to learn more.

Cass

Buy everything from the Van Graffs before finishing her quest if you want to give those weapons to Arcade. It is possible to get both perks for Cass by turning in the evidence then killing the Van graffs afterward. Her ending slides have the best outcome if you leave them alone, but the crier and guard in front of the Atomic Wrangler become hostile. So you can finish them or disable those two via console. The Desert Ranger Combat Armor from Honest Hearts looks good on her.

ED-E

"Talk to Johnson Nash and mention the robot sitting in his store. A Repair skill of 65, or a Science skill of 55 and a subsequent lowered Repair of 35.
1 scrap electronics, 3 scrap metals, and 2 sensor modules. Two scrap metals are right next to the robot while the rest can be easily obtained from Lone Wolf Radio, south of Goodsprings."

Raul

Raul is the coolest follower and his quest can easily be messed up by missing contextual npc interactions. Don't speak to Ranger Andy in Novac until you have Raul with you.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Forum:Old_School_Ghoul_-_Ranger_Andy_Won%27t_Activate_Raul%27s_Dialog
Put off helping the Boomers until you get Raul.
Sneak up and repair Rhonda asap. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Crazy,_Crazy,_Crazy
The prison building is important, but I'd recommend going to the storehouse first. Inside, you will find a broken Mr. Handy, close to the back of the room. If you repair it, and start it back up again, it will ask you to lead it to Mistress Tabitha, the leader at black mountain. Once you walk outside, Tabitha will be shocked and grateful to see her Mr. Handy, Rhonda, working again. They will then leave black mountain forever. Little Tip, Rhonda will give you one key, but I recommend pickpocketing the other key as well, for future quests, and more stuff.

Boone

"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" the player character must have spoken to Manny Vargas in Novac or Bitter-Root in Camp McCarran about his tour of duty in the NCR and Bitter Springs. In order to trigger the quest, one must accumulate at least 5 "history" points with Boone. This a good opportunity to earn the 3 star challenge "Against All Tyrants" (Kill ten named Legion members with Hunting Revolvers, Ranger Sequoias, Brush Guns, Service Rifles, Hunting Rifles, or Cowboy Repeaters.)
Killing Vulpes Inculta: +1
Killing Silus, the captured Legion prisoner of war : +1
During the mission I Put a Spell on You
Confront and kill the spy in act: +1.
The Fort
Killing Caesar: +2.
Legion raid camp
During the side quest Booted
Rescuing the enslaved Powder Gangers: +2
Back in Your Own Backyard
Rescuing all the hostages: +2.
Camp Searchlight / Cottonwood Cove
Eradicate the Legion: +2. While the eradication can be done at any time, for it to count towards Boone's history points it has to be done while doing Eye for an Eye and the currently displayed objective is "Kill all Legionaries in Cottonwood Cove." Killing Aurelius of Phoenix repeatedly using the console is a viable option for farming all five trust points on PC.

Veronica

Loot formal wear from Chauncey and Mortimer during "Beyond the Beef" to learn scribe counter from her.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/I_Could_Make_You_Care#Initiating_the_quest
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/h04ifn/whats_the_best_weapon_for_veronica_in_new_vegas/

BoS

Cancel the Launch at the end of Lonesome Road
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/For_the_Republic,_Part_2#Brotherhood_of_Steel
If Still in the Dark has been completed, and McNamara remains Elder, a truce can be signed between the Brotherhood and the NCR.
To join them complete https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Eyesight_to_the_Blind
Deactivate all but 3 cpus with switch, save scum
https://youtu.be/YgCd-Kl8_sQ
https://youtu.be/OReMKy-s9bM?si=W2FgMZ9DMEqEJMXb

Tip:
If you use the Pulse Gun [found in Vault 34] you can 1 shot everyone that is wearing power armour. Paladin Toaster
https://youtu.be/OZLcjWmuvGY
https://youtu.be/yDBS4zUsTg4
https://www.reddit.com/r/fnv/comments/59t4ek/the_best_way_to_kill_off_the_brotherhood_without/

Arcade

Make sure to meet Arcade before you start working towards the Lucky Shades since he will need more convincing joining you with a higher Legion rep. Having an Intelligence attribute of 3 or lower offers a unique option to beg for his smarts so just have a drink before speaking to him. For Auld Lang Syne is not as dire as the other companions' easily missed quest triggers.
If you're going for the House or NCR endings then it's best to advise Arcade to return to the Followers to get a favorable outcome for him. Consider putting off the final step of his quest since the Better Healing perk he provides is useful since this build favors survival over medicine.
Equip Arcade with this Armor since our character is a Light Armor build https://youtu.be/GoGDNvBOoOk

Lily

The medication dilemma is up to you.
Weapons:
• Assault carbine (GRA)
• Baseball bat (GRA)
• Frag grenade
• Sprtel-Wood 9700
• Mercy
• Light machine gun
• CZ57 Avenger
• Plasma grenade
• Nuka Breaker
• Oh, Baby!

Rex

Lupa's brain on hardcore, Old lady brain on normal

HARDCORE console commands
setessential <base_id> 1
Arcade: 0010C767
Boone: 00092BD2
Cass: 00133FDD
ED-E: 0010C769 (default)
001694E2 (upgr. weapons)
001694E0 (upgraded armor)
Lily: 0013D834
Raul: 000E60EF
Rex: 00118E71
Veronica: 000e32aa

Quest Outcomes / Factions / Endings

SPOILERS
This character is choosing between House, Wild Card or NCR endings. Followers: all. The only thing that gives me pause with the House ending is there can be no peace with the BOS. However Veronica can be convinced to leave them behind.

Main Quest

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Ring-a-Ding-Ding!
Before leaving Fortification Hill buy weapon mods and Caravan Card from Dale Barton, get Sergeant Teddy back for Melody, Grab Lupa's brain, Learn the Legion's special unarmed move from Lucius in Caesar's tent. You need 50 unarmed to learn it.

Skill checks needed for the good endings of each DLC:

    
• Honest Hearts - Talk Joshua down while crushing White Legs Speech 90
      
• Old World Blues (suggested Level 15+) Spare scientists with a lot of skill checks If the Courier has completed all four of the side quests they can tell Klein to confer with his colleagues and the others support the view of the Courier, which allows them to reason with the Think Tank without the high skill checks. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Old_World_Blues_(quest)
      
• Dead Money (lvl 20+) - saving christine with a science check and dog/god with a speech 85 check, Dean with just not passing barter checks and science of 65 to activate holograms
      
• Lonesome Road (lvl 25+) - Talk Ulysses down Speech 90
  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhSPtxpK8iadtTbgn5X_4_h3p79D7EyVI

Guide to delaying your final choice of faction https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/959557-fallout-new-vegas/59672139
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_endings
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=830618010
NCR guide https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2200429291

"Aba dabba honeymoon" vault mission before killing off Motor Runner for NCR with Veronica.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Oh_My_Papa
If Papa Khan is killed, Regis will become the leader of the Great Khans unless the Courier is Papa's heir. Without Papa Khan's guidance, Regis will agree to an alliance with the NCR, ultimately at the detriment of the Khans. Convince khans to leave or die in a charge at hoover dam against caesar's legion.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/For_the_Republic,_Part_2#The_Great_Khans
When going for the House ending remember to do "Oh My Papa!" and tell the Khans to evacuate since House won't prompt you to talk to them.

Put off "Ghost Town Gunfight" until you've done "Booted" with Boone at Nipton and "Why can't we be friends" at Vault 19 convincing Philip Lem to join the Khans (Must be liked by khans,) "I fought the law" speech 30 warning Eddie. Returning to Eddie after helping Goodsprings will put your at Smiling troublemaker. Have Meyers out of ncrcf waiting on pardon then choose Primm Slim.

Legion forgives your early game aggression in main story, but get key to their safehouse before leaving Fortification Hill then immediately return with Boone to assassinate Caesar.

Put off doing G.I. Blues/King's Gambit until you decide whether to side with House/Yes Man or NCR

This quest directs you to the other major ones https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/No,_Not_Much

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/NCR_Embassy

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Fallout:_New_Vegas_NCR_quests
Head here and speak with ambassador asap if you're planning on siding with NCR. NCR is the only option beside Yes Man that allows peaceful diplomacy. House destroys the BOS.
Put off Veronica's quest until you decide to destroy BOS or not.
Top comment says there's an ending more towards house ncr alliance
https://youtu.be/fHrQbHaKNcY

https://youtu.be/nMFzSBENfA8

Mod Suggestions

I searched cowboy / western related keywords on Nexus and since there are surprisingly few relevant mods it seemed like a nice addendum. I haven't tested them, and I have no idea if they are compatible with each other or TTW.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/58721
Adds new caravan company located near NCR sharecropper farms, just go there and ask for a job. If you'll pass the skill check you'll become a caravan guard. Other than cattle drives this is the most cowboy activity there is.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/69863
rob caravan brahmin

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/39042
Convert food plants into seeds and grow them. You can also spread fungus spores on normal plants to make them grow faster.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/43382
Adds a set of lucky spurs to Doc Mitchells house that can be worn with any clothing. They can be found on top of the vigor machine you set you SPECIALs on.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/45485
Wear Glasses With Masks and Hats With Bandanas

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/58540
A Sackful of Hats, Adds 17 cowboy hats all with custom textures including John Marston's.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/64813
Makes ranger hats more useful by adding some effects.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/42268
adds two new, unique weapons to the game, which are inspired in the 1858 Remington Revolver, but are actually energy weapons which visibly use microfusion cells.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/35699
Cowboy Repeater without peep sight.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/75381
Set of akimbo Ranger Sequoias

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/44442
New Vegas Bounties mod weapons added weapons to the cowboy perks list of weapons.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/79230
Compilation of several First and Third person Animations of Spinning Lever-action Rifles, Fanning Revolvers and One-handed Aiming with a Sawed-off shotgun when using the Cowboy Perk.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/62994
vanilla Reload Animation Fix - Lever-Pump-Single action guns

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/49677
Light Up and Smoke Those Cigarettes

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/69944
Injects sawed-off and double-barreled shotguns into the cowboy's applicable weapons form list.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/63374
Cowboy Weapons Holster

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/79067
ATTT Redux (Cowboy Holsters)

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/41698
Illyisms Rideable Creatures NV Bubba the Bighorner

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/40897
Betsy the brahmin

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/37723
A Pack Brahmin Companion

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/37729/
Tweak to \"The House Always Wins V\" to allow the BoS a favorable outcome

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/50468
With this mod companions can Hack terminals. Apparently Veronica can bypass most so that would be a huge help to this Low INT build.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/66347
lStewieAl's Tweaks and Engine Fixes, modern alternative to manual reloading mod, these settings from lStewieAl's Tweaks .ini will achieve the same results:
bRememberWeapjavascript-event-stripped 1
bManualReload = 1

Caravan / Gambling
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/81002
better caravan

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/41247
more caravan players

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/41147
Better Caravan game limit for merchants

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/72768
The Caravan Tournament

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/49292
caravan comp

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/54772
lets you know if you already own card